waffleman's Profile

sebi: i'm not hating on you. i said it's admirable that you do it that way. that's great for you and great for your customers.

my contention that it is perfectly reasonable for some shop owners to charge a corkage. just as i think it's reasonable for restaurants to charge corkage.

i wish every wine bar didn't charge corkage and wish every restaurant didn't, but it's a pretty standard and common practice and shouldn't be viewed as unreasonable.

and further, most bars that i go to waive it for regulars.

in fact, the place that i go to most, i talk to the owner quite a bit. he says he only really charges it half of the time. the biggest determinant on whether he charges the corkage is the customers attitude.

things in this world cost. there is no getting around it. ultimately everything has a price.

there isn't a universal rule that should be applied to everything, because everybody's situation is different and everybody's goals are different.

the fact to the matter is - you probably neither want to nor can't have the staff at BevMo, Costco or Trader Joes open that bottle you just bought for you to enjoy in their store, because they are not licensed to do so.

if you'd like to take that bottle out to the Bevmo parking lot and enjoy it out there, you run the risk of being fined for public intoxication - unless you are in Las Vegas there just aren't that many places in the country for you to drink in public.

and if you visit the little wine bar/store and the store owner has gone through the process of applying for the on-site alcohol license, the food and health permit, and buying those bar stools, dishwashers and stemware. he should have the right, if he chooses, to recapture his investment. the poster down below "sebi" chooses not to do so. that's very admirable of him and maybe he has other avenues help pay the rent. maybe his retail prices are higher than normal. who knows. all i know is that everybody deserves the opportunity to get paid.

If you are really serious about it, Pelican makes a rugged wine shipper. www.pelican-case.com. It's a special order type thing. It's not on the website, but you can call them up and they can help you out.

the premise of my point is, all things being equal, regardless of what the wine costs anywhere else, did you receive $15 of value from that bottle of wine?

so then i ask in a semi related situation, Schlossgut Diel wine used to be represented by a small importer in the US. You could buy a bottle of auslese for around $40-$45 retail, the kabinett for under $20. Couple years ago Terry Thiese picked up the winery and the same auselese now retails at $70-$80 and the kabinett around $30. We are all just making Thiese rich, and that's fine, the wine is damn good. But do you feel ripped off in the same way?

No? So it's okay for the evil conglomerate, big guy importer to make a buck but not your local mom and pop wine merchant?

Sometimes you just have to step back and say, "it's not that big of a deal".

Take a different perspective, when you are buying wine, you hope to buy a good tasting palatable beverage that will give you a little relaxation and maybe, on a good night, you get lucky with your spouse. Instead of thinking you got cheated because you could have spent $10 less dollars on the same wine. Just ask yourself if you got $15 dollars worth of value. $3 per glass.

while i don't have any hard statistics to help argue the point, one would assume that as a wine style there are perhaps hundreds of producers in Champagne that make Champagne. Outside of perhapes Penedes, Spain, there probably isn't another region in the world that focuses on sparkling wine.

take away the largest five US sparkling wine producers and, you are left with but a comparative handful of wineries that make sparkling. Most other wineries and winemakes dibble and dabble in it as something fun or ecletic. so the odds are in the favor of Champagne to make the best. And I agree that they do.

but, i would guess, if you were to blind taste some German or Austrian Sekt wines, maybe something like a Brundlmayer Sekt wine or Gysler Sekt, you would really be surprised at the quality.

I have been around many of these types of events where the host has the intention of "pairing" wine to food. I will throw some caution into the wind for you. I have a small event business and I meet many people that want to do the same thing that you are describing. I tell them all the same thing.

People don't like to follow rules and there are many barriers and prejudices that you have to break down. To start, many newbie Guys don't like champagne. Think it is for sissies, don't like the bubbles, blah, blah, blah. So no matter how great that oyster appetizer sound with the that fabulous Champagne you are pouring, the Guy will ask for the red wine. "What do you mean I can't have any red wine?" And even if you have menu cards with instructions, people will gravitate towards what they feel comfortable with.

If this is a celebration, I wouldn't recommend that you be stingy with the alcohol. The pouring of the alcohol and serving of the apps will never be efficient enough to keep people's glasses filled and happy unless you had at least 12 - 14 servers. If there is waste, there is waste. I think you would be better served by letting the liquor flow and the guests having a great time.

Lastly, if there are only 12 wine-heads in the house, maybe your better approach is to have some "under the table" wine for them as it appears you are most intrested in appeasing them.

i recall having a bottle of this not too long ago. very nice stony minerality with herbal undertones, crisp and medium to fuller bodied. probaly pair well with a shell fish type appetizer or by itself.

truth to the matter, if you are serving many people in varied levels of wine saaviness (just assuming this as you only want to spend $10 a bottle) - keep the onus on the wine and don't get too caught up in the food / wine pairing perfectly. a flavorful well balanced wine will go a lot further than pulling out an ecletic never heard of wine that matches well.

serve what is common and will please many, instead of going on a limb and trying to hit a home run with something that might work perfectly with couscous or seafood thingys.

additionally, you are probably in the minority when you say that the second glass of wine tastes sour. maybe there are deep, recessed pits in you taste buds, but I would venture to guess that most people don't experience the same sensation. most people don't think that, in general, the first glass tastes okay, but the second glass tastes sour. at least, i have never had that sensation nor has anybody else i have known. if the wine is bad, it is bad from the gitgo.

keep it simple and save yourself the headaches. go to costco, unload on a six pack of $10 chardonnay and another six pack of $10 sauv blanc and two cases of beer. you'll be in good shape.

legally, if you bought a bottle at a restaurant, the restaurant normally has an on-premise alcohol license meaning they have a license to sell you alcohol for consumption on the premises. very rarely do restaurants have on and off - premise sale licenses. accordingly, if you bought a bottle off the list and the restaurant did not have an off sale license, you technically would not be able to take the bottle home. in most cases, the wait staff and bartenders don't really understand the licensing and legality and would just put it in a bag for you.

in the case of a byo bottle, unless the law restricts byo, you can do anything you want with bottle. personal property.

personally, unless i was walking or taxing, i would not want to run the risk of having an open container in the car even if it were in the trunk.

This is actually more complex than you would think. The reason being is that there are so many condiments and stuff that you can dress a hot dog that would completely change the flavor profile your meal.

For example, plain pork byproduct hot dog steamed, boiled or nuked with just bun and dog. Nice, fresh and flavorful. I think I try something like Heidi Schrock Muscat.

Same dog, but butterflied and grilled or just grilled on the bbq. I think I try a basic fruit forward merlot or zin. If merlot, nothing too earthy or tannic. Like garden variety Napa Valley merlot. I'm thinking Rombauer or Whitehall lane. Zin, I'd probably do something that is lower on the alcohol....maybe something away from Amador County.

Add some ketchup and mustard and onion and it's different again. A little sweet, a little spicy. I think I vote for Aussie shirazy. Thorn Clarke Shotfire Ridge works for me here.

Do it with the Sauerkraut and it's all riesling for me. A halbtrocken or a off-dry kabinett. Even a fruity one would be nice. Robert Weil Riesling Kabinett Trocken I think would be really cool.

Chili Cheese Dog. Most people would probably say zin. I say beer, but I can honestly say that I have done this with a 2001 Cask 23. It may not have been the perfect food wine match, but I really enjoyed the dog and I really enjoyed the wine.

Ultimately, though, when you are having a hot dog night, it's really more about the wine than the dog.

I would encourage you and all to branch out and try the smaller producers than to stick with the big houses. It's like sticking to Mondavi and Beringer for still wine. Sure, you'll get a safe consistent champagne, but there is more exciting stuff out there to be found. Check out Claude Carre, Fleurry or Paul Bara.

There really isn't a "standard" markup. Restaurants do what is right for themselves. You should expect see a higher markup and to pay more at a restaurant like Mina or Danko and less at a Macaroni Grill. Even so, most saavy restaurants don't use a categorical margin or markup. You start off with a basic markup and then adjust to market - it's like that in most any business.

For example, on the Mina list, just taking a peek. The 2003 Phelps Insignia is $595. That wine is about $80 wholesale. That wine is $350 at Danko. You probably have a bunch of silly midwesterners stay at the St. Francis hotel, drop by Mina, see the 2003 Insignia (thinking it was the WS WOY) and jump all over it.

There is a cost associated with maintaining a cellar and a sommelier staff - and guess what? the consumer pays that cost. Restaurant people aren't in the business just to feed you and not make a profit.

Point of my post is that MM and FL are different types of restaurants - and the comparison is unfair. A more appropriate comparison to FL is to the Ritz or Masa's or something along that line. Or for Mina to compare to perhaps, Danko (probably disrespecting Danko here) or Jardinere.

I too was not impressed at Mina nor any of his others that I have been to - more flair than substance and service always tends to be needed to be kicked up several notches.

Michael Mina and French Laundry are in completely different leagues and they have different atmospheres and levels of execution. It is not fair to the French Laundry for you to expect Mina to give you the same experience. FL has honed it and earned it. Mina is an relatively new restaurant that is currently more glitz than substance IMO.

If you have been to and enjoyed FL, you know should know that immediately walking into Mina that it is a different type of place and it won't be an FL experience. Moreover, I don't think anybody at Mina would claim that it is a FL experience. It's a Mina experience in the big city. Lastly, you have paid a lot more for your meal at FL, close to a grand for the two of you. You were probably out several hundred dollars at Mina (both cases less wine).

Many of the wines on the WS TOP100 are unattainable in any significant quantity. Even so, if you got a hold of some of them, remember the criteria for being on the Top 100. The criteria takes many things into consideration and current drinkability is generally not one of them.

For example, 01 Casanova di Neri is the number one wine. I have not had the opportunity to taste, but most brunello are best in 10-15 years. You've got 03 Bordeaux on the list like Leoville Barton, Ducru, Pichon Baron, Leoville Poyferre. Shouldn't really touch those for another 10+ years. You won't be able to find more than a bottle or two of Kosta Browne, Sea Smoke, Alban, Quilceda Creek. Even something like #67 $12 Tres Picos Garnacha, you will have difficulty finding.

If you are supplying a wedding, think flavor profile more than "name". Something easy on the palate that all guests will find appealing and drinkable. If you agree with me here, then Costco will do you right. If you want something less common, check out Vintage Wine Merchants in San Jose.